Hospital and Community Care for the Disabled

Our organization is always happy to hear success stories on the care of former developmentally disabled residents of state hospitals (now called developmental centers) such as recounted by Arlene Paster in her letter to The Times (Sept. 20).

But, unfortunately, we also hear from parents and read stories in the newspapers that paint a picture of community care as sometimes the dark opposite of Paster’s declaration that in community placement, “My son . . . has learned more in one year . . . than he did during his 21 years at Camarillo State Hospital.”

Most of the parents of the developmentally disabled residents of the Camarillo Developmental Center have had the experience of seeing their child in community care at one time or another. In such care, many of those children’s behavior and physical condition deteriorated and, upon the recommendation of the professionals involved, and with the concurrence of the parents, were returned to the Camarillo Developmental Center where their condition was improved and stabilized.

We are deeply moved by those stories and shocked as we read of specific cases of community-care shortcomings that frequently surface in the local newspapers.

Last year in Los Angeles alone two extreme examples were reported. In one, a caretaker was convicted of manslaughter after his mentally retarded charge was found dead two weeks later, wrapped in a blanket in a closet in his residential care home. In another recent case, felony child neglect arrests were made of both the community-care victim’s social worker and residential-care provider.

This is not to say that high-quality and compassionate care cannot be found in the community. Most of our members would probably agree that it is the rule rather than the exception. But until the state is willing to establish appropriate standards, pay the necessary fees, and set up a reliable monitoring and enforcement system for community care, our members will continue to see the system as unreliable and risky and will prefer the stability and security of the state developmental centers.

One last significant point: All California state developmental centers are “accredited” in accordance with the high standards of the nationally recognized Commission on the Accreditation of Facilities for the Mentally Retarded and Developmentally Disabled; no California community care facility is so accredited.

JIM KESTER

Camarillo

Kester is president of Green Line Parent Group, Inc., a nonprofit organization formed to benefit mentally retarded residents at Camarillo State Hospital.